JP2001143676A - Battery pack - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a battery pack that contains batteries of different lengths inexpensively without a backlash. SOLUTION: A guide groove 8 of a spacer is formed inside a battery storing space 2 of a battery pack 1 which stores a plurality of batteries in parallel. A guide shaft 6, which is formed integrally with a spacer 5 for supplementing a length of a battery 4 shorter than the longest battery 3, is slidably fitted into the guide groove 8. An end surface of the spacer 5 supports an end surface of the battery 4, whereby the battery 4 becomes equal to the longest battery 3 in length to thereby prevent a backlash.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

The present invention relates to a battery pack for storing a plurality of batteries in parallel, and more particularly to a battery pack for storing a plurality of batteries having different lengths in parallel.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art As conventional battery pack spacers, there are known devices disclosed in Japanese Utility Model Publication No. 6-44011 and Japanese Utility Model Publication No. 7-47793. 6-440
As disclosed in the plan of FIG. 10 and the end view of FIG.
b), one of the valleys 15a and 15b formed between the valleys 15a and 15b is interposed with a long and narrow battery partitioning spacer 13 and the two batteries 12a and 12b are pressed by the elastic holder 14 from outside. Is integrated.

The inventor of Japanese Utility Model Publication No. 7-47993 discloses a leg 23, 24 of a battery pack spacer 21 shown in FIG.
A second battery having a built-in battery as shown in FIG.
The battery pack 28 is fitted, and as shown in FIG.
The protrusions 25 formed on the open ends of the battery packs 3 and 24 are engaged with the cutouts 26 on the second battery pack 28 side to prevent them from coming off and integrated, and the first battery pack shown in FIG. The battery pack 27 is fitted therein.

In this case, a bulking portion 22 having the same thickness as the difference between the length of the battery and the length of the first battery pack 27 is formed at the base ends of the legs 23 and 24 of the battery pack spacer 21. The entire length including the thickness of the bulky portion 22 and the lengths of the legs 23 and 24 is fitted into the first battery pack 3. In the drawings, reference numerals 29 and 30 denote openings for external connection terminals, and reference numeral 31 denotes a thief for weight reduction.

[0005]

However, the battery pack spacers in the above two conventional battery packs are:
Each is an example in which a plurality of batteries of the same length are stored. In addition to this battery pack, other battery packs that can store a plurality of batteries of the same length can also be used. When the lengths between the batteries are different, there is a problem that the shorter the length of the battery, the more the backlash is generated in the battery pack.

Accordingly, the present invention has been made in view of the above-mentioned problems, and in order to accommodate batteries having different lengths in a battery pack, the short battery can be accommodated without backlash by supplementing the length of the battery with a spacer. The purpose is to provide a battery pack.

[0007]

In order to achieve the above object, a first aspect of the present invention relates to a battery pack containing a plurality of batteries in parallel, wherein a battery having a maximum length that can be accommodated in the battery pack is used. In order to accommodate the short battery, a spacer for accommodating and keeping the length of the short battery while keeping the maximum length that can be accommodated is provided in the battery accommodating portion of the battery pack, and a guide shaft is integrally formed with the spacer. on the other hand,
A guide groove is formed along the axial direction of the battery on the inner surface of the battery housing, and the guide shaft is slidably inserted into the guide groove.

According to the first aspect, since the guide shaft formed integrally with the spacer is slidably inserted into the guide groove formed on the inner surface of the storage portion of the battery pack, the end face of the spacer can be shortened. Even if the spacer is brought into contact with the end face, the spacer can be compensated for the short length without shaking. Therefore, there is no fear that the cross-sectional shape of the spacer does not fluctuate even if it is not the same as the cross-sectional shape of the battery, and it is possible to form the spacer into a lightweight shape such as a rectangle. As a result, the shortage of the short battery can be compensated for by the spacer, and the battery can be stored without play while maintaining the maximum length that can be stored.

[0009]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. 1 to 9 relate to an embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 1 is a plan view of a battery pack containing batteries,
2 is a perspective view of the spacer, FIG. 3 is a perspective view of the spacer guide, FIG. 4 is a view in which the guide shaft of the spacer is inserted into the spacer guide, FIG. 5 is a view in which the end face of the battery pack is opened, and FIGS. FIG. 8 is a perspective view showing another example of the shape of the spacer, FIG. 8 is a perspective view showing a state where the battery pack is divided, and FIG. 9 is a perspective view showing a state where the battery pack is closed.

As shown in FIG. 1, the battery pack 1 of the present invention has a maximum length that can be stored in the battery storage section 2 of the battery pack 1 in a battery pack 1 having a battery storage section for storing batteries in parallel. A battery having a different length from the battery 3 of
That is, when batteries 4 shorter than the battery 3 having the maximum length are stored in parallel, the space A generated in the battery storage section 2 due to the difference in length between the battery 3 having the maximum length and the battery 4 having a shorter length is stored. By filling the space 5 with a spacer 5 having a length corresponding to the length of the space A, the short portion of the battery is compensated for by the spacer 5, and the battery is stored while maintaining the maximum length.

In this case, as shown in FIG. 2, the spacer 5 has a guide shaft 6 integrally formed with the spacer 5, and the length of the spacer 5 is the maximum length by compensating for the length of batteries having different lengths. It is set to various dimensions that can be kept. The guide shaft 6 is set to have a length and a width that can be slidably inserted into a guide groove 8 described later, and a notch 7 is formed at a boundary between the guide shaft 6 and the spacer 5 so as to face the guide groove 8. And can be slidably inserted into.

On the other hand, as shown in FIG. 3, FIG. 4 and FIG. 8, a U-shaped guide groove 8 is formed on the side surface inside the battery housing portion 2 of the battery pack 1 along the axial direction of the battery 4. ing. The guide groove 8 is formed such that a U-shape protrudes from the inner wall of the battery accommodating portion 2, and the open ends of the U-shape facing each other form an opening 8a in the longitudinal direction.

FIG. 4 shows a state in which the guide shaft portion 6 integrally formed with the spacer 5 is inserted into the guide groove 8, and the notch 7 engages with the opening 8a of the guide groove 8 and It is slidable in the longitudinal direction. As shown in FIG. 1 and FIG.
The short end of the battery can be compensated for and the battery can be kept at the maximum length that can be stored.

The weight of the spacer 5 can be reduced by using a lightweight material such as plastic and forming the spacer 5 into a shape as shown in FIGS. 6 and 7, for example.

On the other hand, as shown in FIG. 8, the battery pack 1 is divided into a battery pack body 1a and a lid 1b at a plane parallel to the axis of the batteries 3 and 4, and the battery pack body 1a A guide groove 8 is formed on one of the side walls.
One end face of the battery pack main body 1a is open to insert the guide shaft 6 of the spacer 5 into the guide groove 8. The battery pack main body 1 is provided on the lid 1b side.
An end face 1d having a shape corresponding to the end face opened to the side a is integrally formed.

In the above configuration, for example, the battery pack 1
When the battery 3 having the maximum length and the battery 4 shorter than the battery 3 having the maximum length are stored in parallel, the space A generated in the battery storage section 2 due to the storage of the short battery 4 is compared with the space A.
The guide shaft 6 is slidably inserted into the guide groove 8 so as to fill the space A by selecting the spacer 5 having the same length as described above, and the end face of the spacer 5 is brought into contact with the end face of the short battery 4. .

While maintaining the above state, the lid 1b is attached to the batteries 3 and 4.
And the mating surface 1c of the battery pack main body 1a and the lid 1b is welded by ultrasonic waves. This completes the battery pack 1 in which the batteries 3 and 4 are stored without play as shown in FIG.

[0018]

According to the present invention, the difference between the lengths of batteries having different lengths is compensated for by the spacer, so that the battery can be stored without any play while maintaining the maximum length that can be stored in the battery storage portion of the battery pack. It is possible to do. In addition, by preparing spacers of various lengths corresponding to batteries having different lengths in advance, the spacers can be appropriately selected at the time of storing the batteries and can be easily and quickly mounted. further,
The spacer can be manufactured at a low cost by forming the spacer into a lightweight shape that has been robbed of plastic or the like.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a plan view of a battery pack containing a battery according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a perspective view of a spacer.

FIG. 3 is a perspective view of a spacer guide groove.

FIG. 4 is a diagram in which a guide shaft of a spacer is inserted into a spacer guide groove.

FIG. 5 is a view in which an end face of a battery pack is opened.

FIG. 6 is a perspective view showing another example of the shape of the spacer portion.

FIG. 7 is a perspective view showing another example of the shape of the spacer portion.

FIG. 8 is a perspective view showing a state where the battery pack is divided.

FIG. 9 is a perspective view of a completed battery pack.

FIG. 10 is an explanatory view of a conventional spacer.

FIG. 11 is an explanatory view of a conventional spacer.

FIG. 12 is an explanatory view of a conventional spacer.

FIG. 13 is an explanatory view of a conventional spacer.

FIG. 14 is an explanatory view of a conventional spacer.

FIG. 15 is an explanatory view of a conventional spacer.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Battery pack 1a Battery pack main body 1b Lid 1c Fitting surface 1d End face of battery pack 2 Battery storage part 3 Long battery 4 Short battery 5 Spacer 6 Guide shaft 7 Notch 8 Guide groove

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. In a battery pack containing a plurality of batteries in parallel, in order to store batteries shorter than the maximum length of batteries that can be stored in the battery pack, the length of the shorter batteries is supplemented and stored. A spacer for accommodating the battery while keeping the maximum length is provided in the battery accommodating portion of the battery pack, and a guide shaft is formed integrally with the spacer, while a guide groove is formed on the inner surface of the battery accommodating portion along the axial direction of the battery. A battery pack characterized in that the guide shaft is slidably inserted into the guide groove.